​We woke up at 6:44am to our cruise director's voice saying that we have arrived and are docked in Miami. Our alarm was 6:45am; close enough. We showered quick, made some final packing arrangements, and headed up to the 9th deck for our final free breakfast. I had my usual favorite - a fully loaded omelet.

Disembarking the ship was as smooth as can be . We decided not to check our bags the night before (leaving them in the hallway) as it was simple enough for us to carry all of our bags off the ship. We each had 2 bags plus a backpack, but we were able to manage with relative ease (easier going down as opposed to up this time). The customs process was a simple 1 minute procedure. Minutes later, we were hailing a 25 minute Lyft ride to FLL for our flight.

We had a long time to wait - arriving at FLL just before 10am and waiting until 4:50pm for our flight. Scratch that, poor weather in Atlanta changed our departure time (more on this later). It was super convenient to be in our Delta Sky Club lounge all day, though. Free wifi, free beer, free juice, free food, and peace and quiet was much appreciated. I had 3 beers, an apple, a banana, orange juice, a latte, countless scoops of chicken pasta salad, and vegetable soup during the course of the day.

It was crazy only having 65 minutes of internet the entire cruise . I will admit it felt kind of nice, but it also felt nice dialing back in to the world.

We had a hell of a time getting home; our flight from FLL to ATL was delayed for the second time. We had now transpired from being 2 hours early for our flight in Atlanta to almost certainly missing our connection. We needed to dig deep into the alphabet with plans B, C, and D. We had tried scheduling a different flight to Milwaukee. That also got delayed. We tried rerouting to Madison through Detroit; that didn't work. Our final option, as opposed to being stuck in Atlanta or Fort Lauderdale for the night with no help from Delta, was to route through Midway (Chicago).

We finally made it onto our flight departing FLL, but unfortunately we still had to go through Atlanta and their air traffic control weren't cooperating with our schedule. Air traffic control in Atlanta decided to limit the number of incoming flights, so we sat on the tarmac in the airplane for almost 40 minutes . To pass the time, we started (and also eventually finished) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children –actually a pretty good movie. Atlanta's air traffic control finally let us go, and we made it to Atlanta with about 15 minutes to spare before boarding our next flight to Midway. To complicate matters, upon arriving to Atlanta we had to travel to a different concourse. Fortunately for us, Atlanta has a relatively simple train that connects them all. We made it to our gate with no more problems. Since we had some of the last seats on the plane and were re-routed because of weather, our seats were actually upgraded to Delta Comfort (much more leg room!). We made it to Chicago with no more problems, landing just after 11pm. Of course, I was told several times that even though we switched itineraries, our bags are going to follow us no problem. And of course, we check the Delta app upon landing and see our bags are definitely showing as en route to Milwaukee and we confirm the inevitable by going to the luggage carousel and not finding our bags . Tragically, Delta's luggage management staff were corralling a dozen or so bags that obviously had been sent to the wrong destination. We talk to the staff and confirm our suspicious. Our options are either having the bags sent to Madison (but through Detroit probably since there isn't a direct flight from MKE to MSN) or picking up the bags tomorrow in person. We opt for option 2 since we were going through Milwaukee anyway (as that's where Alicia's car was).

We made it to Alicia's sister's and brothers-in-law’s via Uber at about midnight. Thankfully, they were still up as they were hanging out with friends. Our alternative plans weren't all bad; we got to see Alicia's < 1 month old nephew :).

After a long stressful travel day, we finally made it safe and sound into a known bed. It definitely could have been better, but it certainly could have been worse. After enough complaining, Delta credited both of our frequent flyer accounts with 14,000 pts (worth about $140), so it wasn't all for naught.

In hindsight, I'm super thankful of our time spent in the Delta Sky Club (and drinking their beer). It was definitely worth the $29 spent on the guest pass for Alicia. The next morning, Alicia's parents both came down to pick us up from Chicago and take us to Milwaukee where Alicia's car and bags were. It was Alicia's mom's birthday on Saturday too, so it was nice to have 2/3 of the family together for a few brief moments. Also the next day, the Packers lost to the Atlanta Falcons, sadly. It's going to take a while for me to warm up to the thought of Atlanta again. But, the journey is part of the experience and the experience as a whole was rock-solid phenomenal. Even though it's nice being home, I can't wait for our next adventure!